Know what you are looking for start saving early and go for something economical to run, those are the top tips from first car buyers to those about to shop for their ride, but there's more to it than that.
Now is a good time to think it through. Winter is peak buying season for first-time car owners, falling six months after the biggest number of 16th birthdays, when new drivers are starting to get their restricted license.
A first car can become the first big consumer headache, but there are plenty of simple defensive buying steps that anyone should take if they're in the market for a used car.
Fair Go asked advice from three 17-year-old first-time buyers at Albany Senior High School. It runs an Adulting 101 class that covers life skills the students identify they want to learn - like how to do you apply for a job, do your taxes, cook, or buy a car.
Rebecca Furness knew she wanted a grey Mazda Demio because it would be cheap to run and easy to keep clean, so she scoured car yards with her family until she got what she wanted for $7000.
"It had a reasonably good amount of kilometres. We took it for a test drive, and it had a pretty good history on it."
Twin brother Matthew knew he wanted boot space, so he opted for a Nissan Bluebird sedan - older, less fuel-efficient but a bit cheaper at $5800.
"One of our family friends who does car maintenance checked it out and made sure it was safe."
Both bought from dealers which means the purchase is covered by the Consumer Guarantees Act - meaning a "fair and reasonable" test applies to any fault that crops up later.
Classmate Mackenzie Hill bought her Mazda Axela privately - meaning there is no CGA protection - but her family knew the seller so there was trust and confidence.
"We knew that they didn't really drive it around a lot, it was their back up family car."
Which brings us to the best "ouch" question you can ask when buying - why is the seller selling?
"Does the car have any issues, noises, any service history, any record of any accident damage? Does it have a warrant of fitness?" asks Greg Hedgepeth, chief executive of Turners Cars.
Of course, that WoF should be no more than a month old at time of sale, unless the buyer signs an agreement to accept the car in that condition.
Hedgepeth says the WoF is just a visual safety check so a pre-purchase inspection is a must to take a deep dive into any potential mechanical issues, especially for older cheaper cars.
Inspections can cost the buyer $100 - $200, a lot less than the thousands of dollars a major fault could cost to repair later.
If the seller is reluctant to allow one, "that would be a red flag" says Hedgepeth.
There are limits; Hedgepeth warns that the companies conducting pre-purchase inspections usually have a disclaimer that they make their best effort, but won't accept liability for missing something in the check-up.
"It is difficult to find every issue in a car. There's a lot of mechanical working pieces, a lot of those are encased and aside from actually taking apart the engine or taking apart the transmission, it's really difficult to know."
He says Turners Auctions use diagnostic scan tools that are pretty good at picking up issues. That includes whether someone else might have used a scanning tool previously to erase any data in the car that could point to potential problems, an uncommon but telling warning sign.
After sale, it's a balance between following the law and doing good business.
"It comes down to what's fair and reasonable in relation to the age of the vehicle, the mileage, the condition of the vehicle that is shown by the price that was paid for it. When looking at all of those things, is it fair and reasonable that this car would have that issue within that time frame since purchase?" Hedgepeth says.
Our trio of first-time buyers have had no big issues with their cars in the first 11 months - and some would now be reluctant to go back to the seller if a problem did occur.
"Possibly, if it was a really big something that could have been there when I got it, then I would consider it," says Matthew Furness.
His classmates say they would probably just take it on the chin and go to a mechanic, which sounds like the confidence born of doing their homework in the first place.
You can do yours not just on the car but on the company selling it by checking online for reviews. Local site Buyerscore carries customer ratings for dealers; Google and Facebook are awash with recommendations so use your judgement.
And of course, if it's a private sale, double down on that scrutiny and ask the ouch questions.
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